Here are some beers to help usher in winter

As the season begins to change to winter, it's time to think about such winter beers as City Star's Chai Watchman. (City Star Brewing / Courtesy photo)

With just a few weeks left before the winter holiday season, it's just about time to say goodbye to Oktoberfests and pumpkin beers (OK, there's one exception) and welcome the winter warmers and barrel-aged stouts.

As usual, there is no shortage of new offerings from breweries across the northern Front Range:

Wild Woods Brewery's S'mores Stout (Cask with fresh mint): This Boulder brewery has yet to let me down as it consistently produces phenomenal beer. Wild Woods just released a fresh mint, cask-conditioned version of their S'mores Stout. This beer is best served with friends, falling temperatures and fresh snow.

J Wells Brewery's' Pumpkin Pie: The smallest craft brewery in Boulder County, J Wells has just released Pumpkin Pie, an amber ale brewed with pumpkin and festive spices. Yes, pumpkin beer season is almost over, but there's just enough time to swing by the garage-based brewery to sample a pint or two.

Gravity Brewing's Grim Whiipa: Grimm Whiipa is an Imperial Wheat India Pale Ale that has been dry-hopped with Citra and Cascade hops. Clocking in at 8.5 percent alcohol by volume (ABV), this bitter beauty is reason enough to travel to the Louisville brewery.

The releases include Saint Nicole, a bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout; St. Petersburg Brett, a cognac barrel-aged stout fermented with Brettanomyces, and Buzzin' Cuzzin', a variant of the brewery's oatmeal stout, Coal Miner's Cuzzin', brewed with coffee, Of the three releases, this is by far the one I am most excited about. When it comes to funky beers, the folks at Odd13 know what they're doing.

Skeye Brewing's Spiced Tobias Red Ale: Longmont's Skeye Brewing will be releasing a holiday-themed variant of their Tobias Red Ale, brewed with mulling spices. The brew is scheduled to be released alongside a holiday version of Skeye's Yakita Porter in mid-December.

City Star Brewing's Chai Watchman: Berthoud's City Star Brewing Co. took home a bronze medal at the 2015 Great American Beer Festival for its American stout, Night Watchman.

To ring in the holiday season, City Star is releasing a spiced, Christmas variant of the brew dubbed Chai Watchman. Brewed with cinnamon, ginger and cardamom then aged on Madagascar vanilla beans, Chai Watchman pairs perfectly with the dwindling temperatures.

Alternatives to Bourbon County Brand Stout

For many craft beer aficionados, Black Friday is about one thing and one thing only: the release of Bourbon County Brand Stout. This barrel-aged beauty from Goose Island Beer Co. is coveted by beer geeks everywhere, but the limited availability and a hefty price tag of BCBS and its variants can be daunting — not everyone wants to stand in line Friday morning for an opportunity to purchase a $60 bomber of Rare Bourbon County Stout.

So, if you're looking to skip the lines and drink local brews — Anheuser-Busch-owned Goose Island is based in Chicago — you might want to consider the these bourbon barrel-aged brews:

Avery Brewing Co.'s Tweak: Tweak is an imperial stout brewed with coffee and aged in bourbon barrels for four months. With an ABV exceeding 17 percent, this brew pairs well with fellow beer lovers. If you're lucky, you might find a bottle at your local beer store — if not, no worries, Tweak is still available on tap at the Boulder brewery.

This imperial dark rye ale was aged in bourbon barrels from Dancing Pines Distillery, also of Loveland. Mountain Man is a rich, oaky 11.8 percent ABV brew. The beer won a bronze medal at the 2014 World Beer Cup and a gold medal in the Wood-Aged Beer category at the 2015 Colorado State Fair. Mountain Man is available in 22-ounce bombers at liquor stores throughout the northern Front Range.

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